Cross-tie.



J', H. GOLLNS.

@Ross TIE.

APPLIOATION FILED NQV.15, 193,1.

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JAMES H. COLLINS, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

CROSS-TIE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented .tary o, isis.

Original application filed September 21, 1911, Serial No.;I 650,493. Divided and this application filed November 15, 1911.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES H. COLLINS, .a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of Harrisburg, county of Dauphin, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cross- Ties, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, the same being a division of application Serial No. 650,493, tiled September 21, 1911.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved cross tie, or rail support, having a base provided with means for deadening the horizontal vibrations thereof, and of such shape thatany vibrations in a horizontal plane will operate to solidify the ballast thereunder. A

Vith this and other objects in view such as are brought out in the following specification aiid appended claims, the invention presentsa construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a sid elevation of a cross tie embodying the improvements, Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof, and Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3*3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the tie consists in a hollow casing 5, slightly oblong in cross section, with a bottom wall G considerably thicker than the others and oppositely extending in the regions of its ends to form a reinforced supporting surface 7. The bottom wall is furthermore provided with a recess 8 increasing in depth toward t-he transverse center, and this recess. is in turn provided with a series of converging' grooves 9, for a purpose hereinafter described, while extending from the recess 8' into the casing 5 are a plurality of holes 10 adapted to drain the interior of the tie, while protruding outwardly and down- Wardly therefrom are abrupt projections 1l, best shown in their preferred form in Fig. 2. The top wall 15 of the casing is substantially flat, with its side edges 1.6 rounded throughout a part of their length, to oifer less obstruction to anything depending from vehicles passing thereover. The Wall 15 is moreover provided With apertures 17, disposed lcentrally above the reinforced surfaces 7 of the bottom wall, and as wide as the internal width of the casing.

Arranged within the casing and protruding through the apertures 17 therefrom,

are blocks 1S to which the rails 19 are Se- Seriai No. 660,349.

cured, and which are constructed and designed to operate as fully described in the above mentioned co-pending application, of which this is a division. On the outside -of the casing and extending upwardly from the lateral projections ofthe reinforced portions 7, are Webs 20, tying the projections to the side walls of the cross tie and adapted to make the latter aid' in the support of the upward pressure of the latter upon the former. I

iVhen placed on the road bed, the tie rests upon any well known forni of ballast (not shown), which extends upwardly into the recess 8, and encircles the projections i1. As is customary, the ballast .is tainped beneath the tie and engaging the projections l1, and the abrupt end walls of the recess 8, prevents the tie from any material longitudinal movement. There is then left practically unrestrained the horizontal vibrations of the tie, principally those in a longitudinal direction, and these vibrations, by the construction of the recessed and grooved base, are utilized to Asolidify or settle the ballast when once tamped thereunder, the inverted V-shaped recesstending to force the particles of ballast toward the trans- Atoward the longitudinal center.

lt is notI intended in the foregoing description-to limit this device to the exact details of construction described, but any alterations may be made therein which do not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described niy invention, what I desire to protect by Letters latent of the United States is:

1. A tie provided with a plurality of converging irregularities in a recess in the base thereof, said recess increasing in depth toward the transverse center.

2. A tie comprising the combination of a plurality of converging grooves in the base thereof, with a plurality of projections extending therefrom, each of said projections having oppositely converging walls.

3. A tic comprising the combination of a plurality of series of oppositely converging rectilinear irregularities in the base thereof, with a plurality of projections extending therefrom, each of said projections being 6. A tie provided With .a recess in and eXl' tending throughout the greater portion of the base of said tie, said recess ,increasing in depth toward the transverse center thereof,1 and meansconverging alternately in oppoA site directions Within said recess, to cause the contraction of the ballast thereunder by the longitudinal vibrations of said tie.

7 A tie provided With a recess in and extending throughout the greater portion of in depth toward the transverse center thereof, means converging alternately in opposite directions Within said recess to cause contraction of the ballast thereunder by t-he longitudinal vibrations of said tie, and means integral with and projecting' from base of said tie to prevent longitudinal movement thereof.

In Witness-whereof, I have hereunto set JAMES H. COLLINS.

, Witnessesz` NEi'rIE O. FREEMAN, J. STUART FREEMAN.

the base of said tie and'recess, increasingl my hand this 10th day of November, A. D., 

